Welcome to Week 14 of The Definitive Version, a new weekly feature of my website. You can read more about the project here and read all past entries here.
Song: “Jingle Bells”
Composer: James Lord Pierpont
Lyricist: James Lord Pierpont
Form: Binary
Standard Key: It was originally published in A-flat major.
1857 seems a little early for a jazz standard, but this song has entered the canon of Christmas-themed songs that are ripe for jazz interpretation. Interestingly, it was not originally conceived as a Christmas song, and is just as appropriate for your November listening – so there you go…a “Christmas” song you can start listening to before Thanksgiving.
Definitive Version: Ella Fitzgerald (1960, from Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas)
Form: A | B | A | B | A | B | (mod) B | (mod) B
Feel: Up Swing
Key: C Major, D-flat Major, D Major
Instrumentation: Rhythm section, horns, background singers vocal group
Medium swing, great melodic choices, cute composed sections for the background vocal group, an iconic ending, and the utter joy that Ella brings to all the material she sings. There are many classic versions of “Jingle Bells” but if you want to point to one and say, there’s how to sing it in a jazz style, this is the one.
Also Recommended:
- Frank Sinatra (1957, from A Jolly Christmas with Frank) A slower swing than Ella, with in the pocket singing from Frank and fun vocal group backgrounds.
- Diana Krall (2005, from Christmas Songs) – Swinging big band from the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.
- Mel Tormé (1992 from Christmas Songs) – Mel only gives “Jingle Bells” half the track of this medley, but I love the new “verse” he wrote before the tune.
- Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters (1961, from Merry Christmas) – Bing’s version is iconic, and lots of fun (including a fun beat drop near the end that I just love).
- James Taylor (2004, from At Christmas) – how far afield is too far when you’re reimagining a classic song like “Jingle Bells”? This bluesy version from James Taylor is, I think, a Rorshach test for answering that question.